Wizard
A few unintelligible words and fleeting gestures carry more power than a battleaxe, when they are the words and gestures of a wizard. These simple acts make magic seem easy, but they only hint at the time the wizard must spend poring over her spell book preparing each spell for casting, and the years before that spent in apprenticeship to learn the arts of magic. Wizards depend on intensive study to create their magic. They examine musty old tomes, debate magical theory with their peers, and practice minor magics whenever they can. For a wizard, magic is not a talent but a difficult, rewarding art. Adventures Wizards conduct their adventures with caution and forethought. When prepared, they can use their spells to devastating effect. When caught by surprise, they are vulnerable. They seek knowledge, power, and the resources to conduct their studies. They may also have any of the noble or ignoble motivations that other adventurers have. Characteristics The wizard’s strength is her spells. Everything else is secondary. She learns new spells as she experiments and grows in experience, and she can also learn them from other wizards. In addition to learning new spells, a wizard can, over time, learn to manipulate her spells so they go farther, work better, or are improved in some other way. Some wizards prefer to specialize in a certain type of magic. Specialization makes a wizard more powerful in her chosen field, but it denies her access to some of the spells that lie outside that field. (See School Specialization, below.) Like a sorcerer, a wizard can call a familiar—a small, magical animal companion that serves her. For some wizards, their familiars are their only true friends. Alignment Overall, wizards show a slight tendency toward law over chaos because the study of magic rewards those who are disciplined. Illusionists and transmuters, however, are masters of deception and change, respectively. They favour chaos over law. Background Wizards recognize each other as comrades or rivals. Even wizards from very different cultures or magical traditions have much in common because they all conform to the same laws of magic. Unlike fighters or rogues, wizards see themselves as members of a distinct, if diverse, group. In civilized lands where wizards study in academies, schools, or guilds, wizards also identify themselves and others according to membership in these formal organizations. But while a guild magician may look down her nose at a rustic wizard who learned his arts from a doddering hermit, she nevertheless can’t deny the rustic’s identity as a wizard. Role The wizard’s role depends somewhat on her spell selection, but most wizards share certain similarities in function. They are among the most offensively minded of the spell-casting classes, with a broad range of options available for neutralising enemies. Some wizards provide great support to their comrades by way of their spells, while others may focus on divination or other facets of wizardry. Schools of Magic A school is one of eight groupings of spells, each defined by a common theme. If desired, a wizard may specialise in one school of magic. Specialisation allows a wizard to cast extra spells from her chosen school and gain some extra abilities, but she then never learns to cast spells from some other schools. The eight schools of arcane magic are abjuration, conjuration, divination, enchantment, evocation, illusion, necromancy, and transmutation. Spells that do not fall into any of these schools are called universal spells. List of Wizard Subclasses *Abjurer *Conjurer *Diviner *Enchanter *Evoker *Illusionist *Necromancer *Transmuter Category:Class Category:Base Class Category:Wizard Category:Arcane Spell Casting